(Newser)
–
Unlike Gravity, which has critics swooning, the new online-poker thriller Runner Runner is flat-out tanking on Rotten Tomatoes. The film stars Justin Timberlake as Richie, a Princeton grad who puts himself through school by playing poker; when he goes belly up, he hunts down online mastermind Ivan (Ben Affleck) and gets involved in his high-stakes, dangerous business. But for critics, it's becoming a putdown contest:

"Even with its glossy Costa Rican setting, Runner Runner ... is a vacant excursion with plot holes the size of a small Caribbean island," writes Claudia Puig at USA Today.

"Remember the old Ben Affleck, the one who made 28 consecutive bad movies before he turned out to be a pretty good director?" writes Kyle Smith at theNew York Post. "He’s back! Behold, the second coming of ... Badfleck." Ouch.

The film has "an intriguing setup," writes Richard Roeper at the Chicago Sun-Times, but it "devolves into a by-the-books thriller with Richie paired off against Ivan in a race against the clock and the FBI agent (Anthony Mackie) who talks as if his entire vocabulary was programmed by watching TV crime dramas and B-movies."

A bright spot, as per Betsy Sharkey at the LA Times: "Fortunately we do have Timberlake. He has a way of breathing life into even deadened moments. You want to watch him. But like most stars, his acting is better when the plotting is smarter."

At least there's a substantial side to Runner Runner: It has landed in the middle of a regulatory battle over online gambling, reports the AP. (Read more films stories.)